About Us

Bristlecone Family Resources offers comprehensive addiction and mental wellness treatment services in Nevada. Bristlecone customizes treatment plans which then serve as a road map for clients in pursuit of a clean and healthy lifestyle for themselves and their families.

Bristlecone offers the full range of treatment services including social model detoxification, residential, transitional living, outpatient, aftercare, targeted case management, treatment for co-occurring disorders and community education and outreach. Our staff puts extra effort into making sure that clients have access to all of the resources available in our community. We don’t compete with other agencies; instead, we focus on partnership to ensure that our community’s addiction treatment needs are served.

Bristlecone bases its treatment planning on the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s “13 Principles of Effective Treatment”. These principles require addressing any obstacles that clients face. Education, job training, child care, transportation, health care, occupational, and life skills training are just a few of the needs we help clients address. Only by tackling a client’s needs head-on does the individual have a real shot at a successful recovery program.

Keeping up on the latest research and best practices is a primary focus for Bristlecone’s expert staff. Counselors, advocates, and other treatment staff regularly attend training and conferences to keep abreast of the latest research, and many of our staff are pursuing advanced degrees. Our treatment planning focuses on using Evidence Based Practices that have been demonstrated successful through research and clinical practice.

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Bristlecone is named after the Bristlecone Pine Tree. This name represents not only our agency’s rich and lengthy history, it also describes the experience of our clients who have survived and overcome difficult circumstances and are now healthy and thriving individuals.

Bristlecone Family Resources was formed in 2002 when two longtime Reno treatment centers merged into one family-focused agency. SageWind Adolescent Treatment Center and NorthStar Treatment Center (formerly NASAC) combined have served northern Nevada for more than 60 years. Bristlecone continues to build upon this rich history and is named after the Bristlecone Pine Tree because this remarkable tree has the ability to fully regenerate itself, even on the brink of death. This name represents not only our agency’s rich and lengthy history, but it also describes the experience of our clients who have survived and overcome difficult circumstances and are now healthy and thriving individuals.

Bristlecone continues to build upon its history by expanding and evolving to fit the needs of our community. In addition to treating alcohol and drug addictions, our agency has a full-service gambling addiction program -one of the only residential programs in the western United States.

In addition to addiction treatment, Bristlecone offers family counseling services, and continues to expand recovery support programs for those who have completed more intensive treatment.

This was produced with support from the Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant and the Center for Applied Substance Abuse Technologies. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent an official position or policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.